Wi-Fi is good in Minnesota

There is some interesting Wi-Fi news from the still frozen northland of Minnesota. St. Paul—sister city of Minneapolis—is grudgingly conceding that the Wi-Fi rollout in Minneapolis is looking like a huge success.

There is some interesting Wi-Fi news from the still frozen northland of Minnesota. St. Paul—sister city of Minneapolis—is grudgingly conceding that the Wi-Fi rollout in Minneapolis is looking like a huge success. The St. Paul Pioneer Press article “Minneapolis looks like a Wi-Fi winner” describes how the partnership between the city and US Internet is beating the odds when compared to numerous other major Wi-Fi rollouts. US Internet, the locally owned ISP doing the actual Wi-Fi network rollout and contracted to maintain the network is fast becoming a model of “how to do it right.” This past summer I posted the article “Wi-Fi network eases rescue operations in Minneapolis bridge collapse,” which outlined how US Internet offered invaluable help during the 35W bridge collapse by opening up their Wi-Fi network to the rescuers as well as the public.

In other good news, the University of Minnesota and Trapeze Networks just announced an agreement that will allow the University of Minnesota bragging rights on having the “world’s largest 802.11n deployment.” The press release from Trapeze Networks outlines the proposed task:

“The University of Minnesota plans to deploy the Trapeze Smart Mobile™ 802.11n wireless network product suite campus-wide, marking the largest ever 802.11n deployment to date. Beginning in May and continuing over the next five years, approximately 9,500 access points (APs) will be deployed to serve more than 80,000 people across the university’s two campuses. Students, faculty and staff will have fast and secure wireless access wherever and whenever they want it.”

Pretty exciting

As a wireless addict, this is all great news to me and will be interesting to follow as the rollouts continue to progress. My son, a student at U. of Minn., is nodding in agreement as his generation expects — well almost demands — that there be “everywhere access without wires.”